Label: Eternal Juggernaut Records
Date: November 29th, 2024
Just shy of two and a half years since “Fragments de l’esdevenir”, out comes its follow-up. Vidres A La Sang is not a band characterized by shallow and simplified compositions. Hence my skepticism ahead of diving into “Virtut del desencís”. Attentive readers of Abaddon Magazine might remember the review of its predecessor. I was fairly enthusiastic in approaching this album, but an error with forcing a publication before the tracks have matured enough… Well, suffice to say, it was looming on the horizon.
However, my fears were quickly blown to smithereens! This is forty four minutes of pure musical brilliance. “Virtut del desencís” is such a spectacular opposite of “disenchantment”, like you won’t believe. The album is a musical journey beyond genres and above any boundaries you can imagine. It surpasses even the previous efforts by the Catalan quartet themselves, leaving them all as introductory lectures that all together lead to “virtue of disenchantment”. The floodgates of inspiration gave way and drowned this record in solutions that transcend extreme metal, or even metal itself.
Starting off, Vidres A La Sang didn’t sacrifice their roots. The dark and relatively crude black metal, primarily influenced by their native scene, but not too far from the megaliths which are Rotting Christ and Moonspell. What’s more, I have a feeling the band members dove into the duo’s mindset, particularly during the matured stages of their respective careers. Incorporating this “raison d’etre” into an already quite evolved sonority seems to be the final piece of the Vidres A La Sang’s puzzle. At least when it comes to exploration within the metal spectrum of sound.
Namely, I’m referring to the use of those massive and heavily placed guitars in such a manner that they do not exude the primal shivering cold and blinding aggression, but rather an emotional grandeur let loose from those hidden corners of a man, where few are allowed to peak. Where Rotting Christ explores a correlation between the man and myth, Moonspell seeks an abolition from the darkness, that’s where Vidres A La Sang finds a solid ground of their own. Especially with their compositions being twisted and uncertain in their structure, they are toying around with any loose psyche and fears rational and otherwise. Building suspense and unleashing demons upon the “victims” on the other side of the speakers. The demons of the worst kind there is, the demons within.
In doing so, the band utilizes any “weapon” close to hand. Thus, “Virtut del desencís” sounds very progressive for the better part of its duration. Most of this impression is due to the mentioned song structures, but also the individual instrumental partitures seem to be fairly “proggy”. Think Porcupine Tree, with as melancholic setup as possible. There’s also a doom metal intake (Paradise Lost or something like that) that’s much more subtle than on “Fragments de l’esdevenir”. It is sucked into the same emotional wrapper and gave way musically. Still, the potency of the band’s atmospheric impact lost no points whatsoever.
Exactly the opposite happened and there’s a couple more factors that helped along. I’m almost completely sure that Vidres A La Sang didn’t take my thoughts into consideration after reading my review of “Fragments de l’esdevenir”, but they did do something about the vocal performance. It’s much more likely that they noticed the same thing on their own and looked to further improve that segment of their creation. This time the vocals are much more versatile, even if they still have their home ground in the traditional black metal screams. Your ears will be treated with clean vocals, whispering and even some chanting in an unusually sounding scale. When I say “unusually sounding” I’m not saying it is bad or out of tune. It fits perfectly, adds a special charm and is really pleasant to the ear. It stands out and is placed in such a manner on purpose, I’m sure.
Along with the vocals, another factor which elevates “Virtut del desencís” above its predecessors, though coming from an outsider’s position is the bass guitar. I haven’t got the proper information, so I might be wrong here, but it seems like the new bass player, Mr. Cristian Vil, took a serious role in crafting this record. His rumble starts its distorted dissolving of the psychological “walls of Jericho” at the very beginning, in “Màrtirs”. It retains its role throughout (distorted or not), until the ruins slide downslope in “Llàgrimes de sang”. It really is that prominent and it means so much in the overall shape of “Virtut del desencís”.
And all of the above is visualized in a manner much better suited to the mastery of band’s creative output. The stages of decomposition as the ultimate in disenchantment and the virtue of ending such a glorious event as a human life… “Virtut del desencís” has it all and it is a definite upheaval of Vidres A La Sang’s career. It would be a dreadful shame if this one goes unnoticed!
